This blog has Monster Mondays (all the best monsters), Tips Tuesdays (recipes, how tos and more), Writerly Wednesdays (all things about books), Thinky Thursdays (thinkings), Fan Fridays (geek day), Reviews of books, TV and film and so much more.

Pages

Welcome to my Blogger page, thank you for visiting. This is where I will share my reviews of books, movies and other things I enjoy. If you would like to see my ramblings, fanfiction and other general posts, please visit my Livejournal: beren_writes. Visit my pages to learn about me and my books.

Top set of links above are external links, second set are pages local to the blog.

Wednesday, 25 May 2016

What is Crap Today May Be Gold Tomorrow #WriterlyWednesdays 29

What is Crap Today May Be Gold Tomorrow

Nearly all of us suffer from 'oh my god, what was I thinking, this is awful' syndrome, I am sure. For those who might not, this is when we read something we have written and decide it is absolute dross and should never see the light of day ever again. It can happen for several reasons:

what we have written is absolute dross (it happens to us all, don't lie :))

we have been looking at our writing far too long and have come to hate it

the part we are reading simply does not fit the story we are writing.

However, I am here to give one simple piece of advice:

DO NOT DELETE IT!

If this feeling seems to apply to the whole of the current WiP, I can all but guarantee we are suffering from #2. It's writing fatigue, pure and simple. The only way to cure this is to step away from the work. Giving it a few days, working on something unrelated, can often clear this problem right up.

If this feeling applies just to a scene or two, it could be any of the above.

Just occasionally #1 strikes:

we lose our skill with words, or

we have a brainwave that was clearly brought on by a delusion, or

we wrote it while drunk or under the influence of cold medication.

It can happen, but I still say, don't delete it.

Cut it out by all means, but don't throw it away. Save it somewhere, because it is impossible to tell if there might be a tiny bit of a gem in the scene(s) that might come in handy later. Sometime there is gold in all the ca-ca, even if we can't see it glinting right away.

Once again, if it's #2 the only solution is to leave it for a while and come back later.

Then there is #3:

Occasionally we writers get carried away. An idea pops into our heads and we write it to the nth degree. Our readers do not always need to know everything we have written. However, it is a good idea never to throw away these flights of fancy. Yes, rip them out of the main narrative, but they might come in handy later:

if it is background info, keep it in the info file/database so it can be referenced later

if it is simply a scene that is pointless in the current story, file it away in case a similar scene is needed in another one. It can always be reworked to fit the new plot or it might just be great inspiration for a new scene further down the line.

It's the same with all those ideas scribbled down in an instant, but never developed. Don't throw them away; we can never know when they might come in handy.

I'll let you into a secret - I never delete a writing file and I start a new version of files if I am making large changes rather than just adding to what I have already written. Every work has a folder and in this folder is the current file and a directory called old files, which holds everything which is not current.

Now this is probably overkill - I am a pack-rat by nature. A lot of these files are never touched again, but is also means I never lose anything. I even have a whole directory called concepts just for those files that contain a few scenes or a plot outline. I'm not suggesting you do the same :) - just that you don't discard things out of hand.

What seems terrible today, might still be terrible tomorrow, or it might turn out to be pure genius. It's really not always possible to tell on the day. At the very least don't delete it unless you are very, very sure, and definitely don't delete something in a fit of pique :).

Do you keep your discards, or do you simply throw them away? Am I insane for my approach? :) Do you ever suffer from writing fatigue?

I don't write books although I used to write poetry and I did once start writing a book. I tried writing some kids stories and until I lost them because I hadn't backed up properly, I was saving the stories. Still have most of the poetry and my one book attempt.

I save everything. I actually read something I wrote many years ago, the other day. It was a pile of rubbish but the idea was solid. I'll be using that in a new story. Fantastic post with great advice. Thank you for sharing.

I save everything, too. Sometimes I just write random scenes with no idea where or for what but then later find a use for them. I collect images from the internet and store them in files on my hard drive and play with them when I'm casting about for idea. I am nuts.

I've deleted my fair share of drafts :-( I should create a sub-folder titled "Ick - Ignore" and stuff everything in there that I want to delete. Maybe, just maybe it will be useful one day. Cheers - Ellen

I think I agree with everything, except the "occasionally" getting carried away part. For me at least, it's more like "often". Or "always." But yes, I believe in saving everything. There's always something good in every story.

Feed from My LJ

Featured Book

Charlie Waterman is eighteen and until he is assaulted by a cat figurine and wakes up with a tail, he is boringly normal. Seven great Spirits guard the universal Balance against the forces of chaos and it is time for them to choose new Questors to wield their power and be their mortal advocates. Charlie is supposed to be the Questor of the Cat Spirit, but no one bothered to ask him about it.